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Conformity
6 April 2016
26.01 Conformity
Unlike compliance, conformity is an indirect means of social influence but still very powerful in
shaping behavior.
Read pp. 119-123 of your Crane and Hannibal textbook, Section 4.2:
Sociocultural level of analysis: social and cultural norms.
Read pp. 24-27 of the Pamoja Supplementary eText, The Sociocultural Level of
Analysis: Section 3, Social Norms: C. Conformity to Group Norms.
SCLOA
Pg. 24-27
C. Conformity to Group Norms
Acting similar to other, but no direct pressure
Adapt in response to expected behavior
Types of conformity
o Informational conformity:
Unfamiliar situation
Look to others for how to act and inform us of the customs
o Normative conformity:
Conform to be like the group
Social conformity to make a good impression
Adopt group stance
Peer pressure for acceptance
Research on conformity to group norms
o Sherif 1935
Informational conformity study into the autokinetic effect (moving
light)
Objects moved and light was stationary, making the light
appear to move
Participants gave reasoning alone as to how far the light moved
Placed in groups of three - two had similar observations and the
other was different - each told their answer
Lack of information, look to group
Results:
Group came to a consensus of a common estimate - group
agreement
Conclusion: in an ambiguous situation, a person will look to others
for guidance
o Asch 1955
Normative conformity
Length of lines
Answers were ambiguously wrong
Conformed to avoid embarrassment of being the odd one out
The need to be part of the group was stronger than the desire to
give the correct answer.
Evaluation of research on conformity to group norms
o Artificial experiments - lack ecological validity
o Meaningless stimuli
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
gender and culture bias in that only male US participants were used
Cant be generalized
Factors influencing conformity
75% conformed at least once in Aschs research
Gender
Historical context
Ethnicity
Self-esteem
Professional confidence
Age
Group size
Position of naive participants seat
Second person disagree with the incorrect answer
Group size
Social impact theory - Additional member add pressure to conform
Social influence model
Increase of conformity level to a certain extent
1-15 confederates
More than 3-4 confederate decreased conformity
Confidence
Perrin and Spencer (1980)
engineering, mathematics and chemistry students as subjects
on only 1 out of 396 trials did an observer join the majority and
make a wrong estimation
Cultural change - Americans in 1950s were taught to follow the
majority opinion
1960s- demand for social change
Culture and ethnicity
Neto, F. (1995)
women psychology students in a Portuguese university as a
minority of one, unanimous majority group, and control
participants
59% conformed at least once, 28% yielded three to twelve times
control condition 27% erred at least once, and 3.3% made more
than three errors
Minority influence
The majority is influenced to accept the beliefs of the minority
Minority exerts their disagreement to bring a change in society
Affected by group size, level of consistency, and situational factors
Moscovici and Zavalloni (1969)
Informational conformity
Ambiguous situation
32 groups of 6 females
Study of perception
36 blue slides differing by color/shade/intensity
Stooges either always of of the time said the slide was green
8% of the majority agreed
IB Psychology
Name: Natalie Cassello
Teacher: Helen Loughran
12 April 2016
Learning Outcome
Evaluate research on conformity to group norms.
Aschs study is the most important investigation of conformity and a thorough evaluation is
essential. In addition more recent insights about cultural norms and conformity are relevant.
Evaluation
Evaluation of Asch (1951)
Methodology Considerations
Ethical Considerations
Gender/Cultural
Considerations
Cannot be generalized
because participants only
included 123 male students
at Swarthmore College
characteristics.
Conformity and Culture
Study
Brief Description
Sherif
1935
IB Psychology
12
G
roup SSize
ize
Group
A sch (1 956)
Additional
group
confederates
tend to add
pressure for
the
participa nts
to conform to
a certain
extent of
m em bers.
After there
are m ore than
4, conform ity
levels m ay
begin to
decrease.
o
o
U n anim ity
Unanimity
A sch (1 956)
w hen all of
the
confederates
agreed and
the
participa nt
w as m ost
likely to
agree. If one
confederate
sa id a
diff erent
asnw er, th en
the
participa nt
w as less likely
to conform .
C
onfi den ce
Confidence
Perrin a nd
Spencer
(19 88)
used
specialized
engineering,
m athem atics,
and chem istry
students to
replicate
A sch's 1951
experim ent to
fin d that an
observer
joined th e
m ajority and
m ade a w ron g
estim a tion
once out of
the 396
trials.. This
also show ed
the sultural
change and
postm odernis
m of
A m ericans in
the 1950 s
w hen they
w ere tau ght
to follow the
m ajority
opinion until
the 1960 a
w hen there
w ere
dem ands for
so cia l change.
Self-esteem
Self-esteem
Stang (1973)
Participants
w ith high selfesteem w ere
m ost likely to
stay w ith their
ow n choice
and not
conform to
incorrect
respon ses.
C ulture
Culture
Sm ith a nd
B ond (1996)
review ed
conform ity
studies and
found tha t
people w ho
score high on
H oefstede'sco
llectivism
scale tend to
conform m ore
than those
w ho score
low.
Group size
Asch 1956
14% with 2
32% with 3
Unanimity
o
Confidence
o
self-esteem
o
Perrin and Spencer 1988 replication with engineers and medical students
Group size
o
1-15 confederates
Confidence
o
on only 1 out of 396 trials did an observer join the majority and
make a wrong estimation
Neto, F. (1995)
control condition 27% erred at least once, and 3.3% made more
than three errors
Minority influence
o
Informational conformity
Ambiguous situation
32 groups of 6 females
Study of perception
Stooges either always of of the time said the slide was green
Conformity is an indirect form of social influence which values and behaviors of a culture
are passed on to its members. It forces people to adapt their feelings, behaviors, and
thoughts to be in agreement or to be accepted by the social norms of the group. In
schools, this influence is otherwise recognized by the phrase, peer pressure.
There are many different factors which influence conformity found in the Asch Paradigm,
studied by Soloman Asch in 1951. These include gender, age, historical context, culture
and ethnicity, group size, professional confidence, self-esteem, position of participants
seat, and unanimity or having more than one person choose the incorrect answer. There
were many follow-up studies and replications of the Asch 1951 study to investigate why
75% of participants were affected by the social pressures and conformed at least once
during the trials. I find it quite interesting that so many people tended to simply change
their own thoughts just to feel accepted into their group, even though there were no
consequences for going against the group or an expectancy of the group ever meeting
again.
In 1956, Asch continued his research and investigated some of these factors further.
Looking a group size, it was found that the social impact theory and social influence
model can be applied. The theory states that additional members add pressure for the
participant to conform and the model shows that the conformity level increases to a
certain extent before it eventually begins to decrease. The results of Aschs study
showed that 3% of participants conformed when they were only with one confederate,
14% conformed when in a group with two confederates, and 32% were influenced with
three confederates. The researcher concluded that the rate of conformity does not
increase with any larger groups, but may decrease with very large groups because
individuals feel more comfortable voicing their true opinion. This may be because of the
unanimity of the group. If all of the confederates were to agree on a single response,
then participants tend to go along with the incorrect answer, so they feel as if they hold a
sense of belonging to the group. However, if one confederate says a different answer,
then the participant will also most likely disagree with the rest of the group and give their
proper response, meaning they are less likely to conform.
Unless, the participant has high-self esteem or strong confidence. In 1973, Stang
studied conformity in relation to self-esteem. He came to a conclusion that people are
less likely to conform if they have a high self-esteem. They tended to stick with their own
choice and not conform to the response of the majority if they knew it was incorrect.
Perrin and Spencer investigated the factor of confidence in 1988. Their research found
that people are less likely to conform if they make a decision with regard to a field of
ones expertise. The procedure replicated the methodology of the Asch Paradigm, but
replaced the participants with engineering, mathematics, chemistry, and medical
students. The results supported their hypothesis, as only one participant conformed to
the wrong estimation of the majority, out of the 396 trials. This study also supports the
factor of culture influencing conformity, as Americans in the 1950s, when Asch
conducted his original experiment, were taught to follow the majority opinion, but
following the rules of postmodernism, especially after the demands for social change in
the 1960s, the effect of culture is obvious on conformity.
Smith and Bond also looked at culture and ethnicity, in 1996. After reviewing conformity
studied, they found that people who score high on Hoestedes collectivism scale tend to
conform more than those who score low. In 1995, Neto F. also researched how culture
affects conformity. The study included participants who were women psychology
students in a Portuguese university. They were put in a group in a group with an
unanimous majority group and control participants. The results showed that 59% of the
women who were minorities conformed at least once and 28% yielded three to twelve
times while 27% of the control condition conformed at least once and only 3.3% made
more than three mistakes. This investigation proved that there is an obvious difference
between the psychology students in Portugal and control group, being that there is a
lower conformity rate to unanimous peer group opinions than the American male
students from Aschs study. The females in this study were also the minority of the
experiment, which relates to the minority influence is when the majority of the group is
forced to accept the beliefs of the minority after exerting their disagreement to bring a
change in society. This is affected by the factors of conformity including group size, level
of consistency, and situational factors.
Conformity is influenced by the factors of gender, age, historical context, culture and
ethnicity, group size, professional confidence, self-esteem, position of participants seat,
and unanimity. All of these factors can be seen through the studies investigating the
psychological process of conformity further, including Asch 1956, Perrin and Spencer
1988, Stang 1973, Smith and Bond 1996, and Neto F. 1995. This idea of conformity with
support of these studies studied at the sociocultural level of analysis proves that humans
are social beings.
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